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Friday, July 18, 2014

The Green Wall


It is during this time of the year, here in Western North Carolina that I get hit by 'the green wall'.  Everywhere there is green -- and not just in lawns but in shrubs, bushes and trees - by the millions.



Each year I go through a semi-claustrophobic period.  Most people would say I'm crazy - what's not to like about all the beauty around me?  I think my feelings are based on being a 'western' girl.  I grew up living on the beach -- I spent much of my adulthood in desert areas.  I value the sight of the sun rising and setting in all its splendor.  I value the night sky with the stars spread from horizon to horizon.  I like knowing exactly where I am at any given time.



The first time we moved to the east and I made a drive out of my neighborhood, I got so lost.  I must have passed the same place three times before I realized I was going around in circles.  There was green everywhere.  It all looked the same and it was quite unnerving.



I love the feeling of standing in the desert and seeing and feeling the world spread out before me.  Its no longer about 'me' its about this incredible planet that we inhabit and the vastness of it compared to my smallness.  



For now I'll try to push my 'green phobia' aside - because fall and winter will soon be here and then I can complain about the cold and the leaves to rake - but by gosh I'll know where I am at any one time. *smile*


"Any landscape is a condition of the spirit." - Henri Frederic Amiel

6 comments:

  1. No surprises here, Penny. I know your penchant for the desert, but you are a lady of positives. So in spite of your spirit feeling somewhat bound by green walls all around, you see beauty in nature's gifts. Think of your walls as "cozy" instead of claustrophobic. ;)

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  2. Good advice from Barb. But I totally get that green wall effect. Today Terry and I drove a little north of here to Buchanan Michigan. As we drove, I was thinking that our area is all overgrown green, but when you enter Michigan it's rolling green fields bound by huge green trees. Two lane highways are lined with dense foliage. I don't feel confined, but find myself looking up to the wide spacious sky.

    HOWEVER, I do admit that long about the middle of October I will wonder at how beautiful the colorful trees are. go figure.
    xx, Carol

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  3. That certainly is green, I get that feeling driving through the narrow lanes in some od our counties, I do like to see where I am and were I am going.

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  4. I grew up in East Anglia, which is (relatively) flat and open and it's quite similar where I live now, but I love the feeling of being cradled and enclosed by trees and hills. But wouldn't it be a poorer world if we didn't all love different things?!

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  5. It's natural that you should prefer the landscape you've lived in most. I like green rolling hills, and find deserts a bit disturbing - but maybe one day I'll learn to see the beauty in them as you do...

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  6. I can't live in a place without green. I visited California when my daughter lived there and realized fairly quickly what was missing. That's when I found that I had to see green - grass, leaves, trees.
    I also found that I felt claustrophobic among the Rockies when I was in Alberta.

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